Radiation risk safety limits for the public: operating Russian nuclear power plants; predictive estimates for the fast-neutron reactor Brest, operating under normal conditions

The IAEA publication on international basic safety standards highlights the necessity to establish dose limits for public, as well as limits of radiation risk of developing cancer. Results and conclusions of large-scale epidemiological studies, first of all the studies of health effects of atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 made the fulfillment of the above requirement possible. In the current Russian national safety standards (2009) there are three basic dose limits expressed as radiation risks for the population: 5×10-5 y-1 - in case of normal operation; 1×10-5 y-1 - sources of potential exposure to radiation; 1×10-6 y-1 - negligible risk. Levels of radiation safety for the population living near the nuclear facilities were estimated as lifetime attributable risk (LAR) values with the use of the models described in the ICRP 103 publication. The same method was used for making predictive assessment of safety levels of the fast neutrons reactor, BREST. LAR values for cancer development among the population living near the operating NPPs and predictive assessment of safety levels of the fast neutrons reactor, BREST, meet the current Russian national radiation safety standards - NRB-99/2009.